How a charismatic Californian became the closest thing to Billy Graham  and why religion in America won't be the same

Home base Warren in a rare moment of solitude at his 23,000-member Saddleback Church.

Rick Warren has Rick Warren syndrome. That's not a joke. He has a brain disorder. "I was born with it," he says. "I went to the Mayo Clinic, and the doctors said, 'We have found a dozen or so other people with this. There's no name, so maybe we'll just call it the Warren syndrome." He describes the ailment's chemistry as an inability to process his body's own adrenaline. Its symptoms are tremors, disorientation and pain, and, as he says, "it makes my brain move very fast." I ask  since a colleague of his has asserted it ...